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FACTORS AFFECTING THE BOX-OFFICE RETURNS IN BOLLYWOOD
AADIL MAJEED ABSTRACT:
The objective of this research paper is to analyse various factors that directly or indirectly influences the box office collections in Bollywood. The research tries to classify the movies taken up for the sample study released during 2010 to 2012 based on their box office returns and other strategies used during the prerelease, release date and post-release period. The research paper analysis the data of 360 movies released from 2010 to 2012. The data has been collected from various trusted and reliable sources like IMBD and Ormax media website. Based on analysis and findings the appropriate conclusion has been drawn at the end of the research. KEYWORDS:
Star power, Box office collections, WOM, Opening
weekend.
INTRODUCTION As many as 360 movies released from 2010 to 2012, some of them were commercial successes and some critically acclaimed. Many films entered the 100 crore club and touched new milestones every year. Many records were made and many were broken and the industry business hit the new heights every year. The concept of movie making and growth of cine goers in India has
really brought a revelation in box office returns in Bollywood during the past few years. The growth in the box office collections has been stupendous post the release of Ghajini (2008) as the movie was the first to cross the 100 crores in Bollywood. Today it is all about the good opening and the first weekend or week collections which decide the fate of the movie. The opening weekend
serves as an important and strong predicator to overall financial performance at the domestic box office, foreign box office, video sales, and video rental revenue (Caroline Elliott, Rob Simmons, 2008) . Star power, release dates, promotions, Word of mouth (WOM), holiday weekends, online promotions, festive season, controversies and critical reviews are important factors which has a huge impact on the box office returns in Bollywood. ”Cinema watching has never been the same. Gone are the days when a good
movie was made, it was the content and story line, the strong performances which automatically drew the audience to the cinema theatres. The option of entertainment for the theatre-goers of the 1970s and the 1980s was relatively less. It was cinema which offered a valuable three-hour entertainment. The number of movies that were churned out of film factories were also comparatively less than the present era. Hence, the success of a movie purely depended on the content of the cinema” (P Prasada Rao and Karthik Kannan, 2008). Nowadays, more movies are made on the real life stories and that has also created curiosity among the audience and eventually affected the box office collections.
HYPOTHESIS: H1:
The opening weekend has a huge impact on the box office collections of
the movie.
H2:
Star power has a huge impact on the opening and box office collections.
LITERATURE REVIEW In Bollywood, the star power has redefined the collections at the ticket widow from 2008 and other factors have also contributed significantly to box office collections. Nowadays, every product or commodity which can be sold in the
market needs marketing so that it reaches to the target customers. Cinema has also felt this need to change with the changing environment and the movie can be classified into pre-release, release date and post-release period. This period includes different promotion starting from newspapers in the form of pictures, interviews, gossips, to televisions, trailers, playing songs, making of the movie, interviews by the cast of the movie, and other activities which creates a buzz about the movie and is more than just awareness” ( P Prasada Rao and Karthik Kannan, 2008). The critical reviews has also become such an important part as viewers use to see is the movie worth a watch or not. Another important factor is Word of
mouth (WOM) that has become a powerful tool and is more credible and trustworthy for the viewers these days The WOM is very active during the prerelease period and spreads like virus after the movie gets reviewed and release. (Yong Liu, 2006). Today, there are movie critics appearing on almost every TV channel. For example, people like Rajeev Masand definitely create an impact on the minds of the viewers when they give a verdict on channels like CNN-IBN. It is important that movie makers take these mega mavens into confidence. However, this is
not to be done by buying or recruiting them as such. If done so, these professionals might lose their own credibility (P Prasada Rao and Karthik Kannan, 2008). Other reviewers like Taran Adarsh (Bollywood Hungama), Anupama chopra (star world) are credible reviewers and they have huge fan following on social networks so, their review do influence their fan base whether to watch a movie or not.
Filmmakers are also using blogging and social media as an effective tool to promote their movies. Getting a good review from known critics’ has a huge impact on the prospects of a movie. The concept of blogging sites have also helped the movies which were high on content but were not promoted effectively like BLACK and GURU. Technology has also changed the very form of entertainment—video games to computers, cable television to video players, CDs to DVDs, I-pod to video mobile phones. The list is bound to become wider in the years to come. Grey market has also expanded and eroded into the profits of producers and distributors. This has added to the burden that a movie-maker has to face in order to earn revenue out of the movie that he/she produces (P Prasada Rao and Karthik Kannan, 2008).
AIM OF THE STUDY The objective of this study is as follows :
What are the different factors that affect the box office returns in Bollywood?
How much do these factors influence the total revenue and the status of the movie?
What are the current trend and the upcoming innovations that are going to change the prospects of a movie business in Bollywood?
How much growth Hindi movies have made from 2010-2012 in the overall collections?
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This research is an exploratory research and is based on the secondary data.The sample of movies used for the study has been listed which, ranges from a period of 2010-2012. Specifically this period has been chosen, as any movie taken before this period would widely vary in terms of its promotion, collections primarily due to technology and other factors. The sample has been selected on the basis of top grosser, big flops, sleeper hits and surprise flops In 2010, as many as 100 movies released at the Bollywood box office. In 2011, 107 movies released at the box office. In 2012, 155 movies released at the box office the highest so far. The table 1 shows how different factors have affected different movies and their affect on box office results: MOVIES
STAR
PROMOTIONS
CONTENT
WOM
POWER
EXTRA
BOXOFFICE
FACTOR
RESULT
STAR POWER
ALL TIME
(YEAR)
DABANGG
HUGE
HIGH
HIGH
POSITIVE
BLOCKBUSTER
(2010) GOLMAAL
GOOD
HIGH
LOW
MIXED
SEQUEL
BLOCKBUSTER
HUGE
HIGH
LOW
NEGAVTIVE
MUSIC+STAR
FLOP
3(2010) VEER
POWER (2010) GUZAARISH(2
HUGE
AVERAGE
GOOD
MIXED
010)
STARPOWER+
FLOP
PERFORMAN CES
AARAKSHAN(2
HUGE
HIGH
AVERAGE
MIXED
STAR POWER
FLOP
AVERAGE
AVERAGE
AVERAGE
POSITIVE
MUSIC+SEQU
SUPERHIT
011) MURDER 2 (2011)
EL
OMG (2012)
AVERAGE
AVERAGE
HIGH
POSITIVE
CONTENT
SUPERHIT
ROWDY
HUGE
HUGE
LOW
MIXED
ACTION
BLOCKBUSTER
GOOD
GOOD
HIGH
POSITIVE
CONTENT+PE
BLOCKBUSTER
RATHORE (2012) BARFII
RFORMANCE (2012)
GANGS OF
S LOW
AVERAGE
HIGH
POSITIVE
CONTENT+PE
WASSYPUR(20
RFORMANCE
12)
S
HIT
Based on the above analysis we can find out that different factors can affect the movie at the box office. If we talk about Dabangg (2010), it literally shattered almost all the box office records that year. The reasons were many like it was backed by a huge star power, the action genre is very popular in India, the innovative promotions and positive word of mouth really helped it along. The other example of Aarakshan (2011) was also backed by huge star power,
aggressive promotions and the performances were quite good but it flopped at the box office. The reason was very evident as the mixed word of mouth spread and the content was also average. Other factors like music, critical reviews, production banner, remakes, and controversies directly or indirectly affect the movie. Times have changed a good movie is openly accepted but it should be promoted so that it attracts the target audience. The films based on real life stores like No One Killed Jessica (2011), Pan Sing Tomar (2012) has been appreciated widely and were winners at the box office as well. Unconventional movies like Peepli live (2010), Stanley Ka Dabba (2011), Barfii (2012) and Gangs of Wassypur (2012) have pushed the envelope as the content is out of box for the typical Bollywood audience and these movies did had the commercial success as well. Masala movies still do well today only because they are backed by huge star power and promotions. The other factor is Budget and the distributor’s share which is of prime importance and that is what matters at the end of the day. Ra.One (2011) had the best promotions ever in Bollywood, huge star power, super hit music, good performances, and Dewali release yet it did not manage to recover all its production budget of 150 crore from Indian market. The reason was huge budget and mixed word of mouth although the movie took an excellent opening both in India as well as overseas. The table 2 shows the movies that hit the 100 crore mark from 2010 to 2012: YEAR
MOVIE
STAR
GENRE
RATINGS/10
CONTENT
2010
DABANGG
SALMAN KHAN
ACTION
6.3
GOOD
2010
GOLMAAL 3
AJAY DEVGAN
COMEDY
5.1
AVERAGE
2011
READY
SALMAN KHAN
ACTION/COMEDY
4.5
AVERAGE
2011
BODYGUARD
SALMAN KHAN
ACTION
4.3
AVERAGE
2011
RA.ONE
SHAHRUKH
SCI FI
4.7
AVERAGE
ACTION
6.8
GOOD
KHAN 2011
DON2
SHAHRUKH KHAN
2011
SINGHAM
AJAY DEVGAN
ACTION
6.6
GOOD
2012
HOUSEFULL2
AKSHAY
COMEDY
5.0
AVERAGE
ACTION
7.0
GOOD
ACTION
5.5
AVERAGE
COMEDY/ACTION
5.2
GOOD
ACTION/ROMANTIC
5.6
GOOD
RANBIR
ROMANTIC-
7.3
VERY GOOD
KAPOOR
COMEDY-DRAMA
AJAY DEVGAN
ACTION
4.7
AVERAGE
JAB TAK HAI
SHAH
ROMANTIC
6.2
GOOD
JAAN
KHAN
KUMAR 2012
AGNEEPATH
HRITHIK ROSHAN
2012
ROWDY
AKSHAY
RATHORE
KUMAR
2012
BOL BACHAN
AJAY DEVGAN
2012
EK THA TIGER SALMAN
KHAN 2012
2012
BARFII
SON
OF
SARDAR 2012
RUKH
All these movies have crossed the 100crore figure and many things are common in these movies like huge star power, genre, sequels and remakes with only few exceptions. This shows the affect of star power in Bollywood movies irrespective of their content and ratings. All these movies had an excellent opening at the box office and the major chunk came in the first week only that
means the initial buzz does not last for too long and the advantages are also short lived.
FINDINGS:
The primary aim of this research has been to analyse the different factors that affect the box office returns in Bollywood. Over the past few years the star power has kept the cash registers ringing at the ticket window and from 2010 it has touched new heights. Actors like Salman khan has had a dream run at the box office from 2009 and his movies hit the 100 crore one after the other. However, good content, aggressive promotions and positive word of mouth (WOM) has also affected the box office collections. The path breaking storylines and unusual plots have been welcomed by the Indian audience appreciably. The unconventional cinemas like Barfii (2012), Peepli Live (2010), I am Kalam (2011), and Gangs of Wassypur (2012) have also tasted both commercial and critical success in India as well as overseas. Social media like Facebook, Twitter etc have become a new trend to promote and spread the word of mouth (WOM) quickly across the target market. New marketing techniques and innovations have also been used to attract the audience towards theatres. Accessibility has been a major change as new cinemas and multiplex chains are opening in every town and distribution of prints has become very effective these days. Being a growing economy India has shown good growth in different sectors and Cinema is definitely one of them. The business of Bollywood movies is growing leaps and bounds every year and it will keep growing in future as well.
REFERENCES AND WEBSITES:
Yong Liu, Word of Mouth for Movies: Its Dynamics and Impact on Box Office Revenue© 2006. American Marketing Association ISSN: 0022-2429 (print), 1547-7185 (electronic) 7< Journal of Marketing Vol. 70 (July 2006), 74-89
Caroline Elliott · Rob Simmons , Determinants of UK Box Office
Success: The Impact of Quality Signals- Published online: 17 September 2008 © Springer Science + Business Media, LLC. 2008
P Prasada Rao* and Karthik Kannan**, Marketing Strategies of
Bollywood Movies in India and Overseas: An Empirical Study- The Icfai Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. V, No. 1, 2008
Neil Terry, De’Arno De’Armond, Miles Zachary , West Texas A&M
University, Canyon, Texas, USA - THE DETERMINANTS OF OPENING WEEKEND BOX OFFICE REVENUE FOR MOVIES JOURNAL OF ACADEMY OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS, Volume 9, Number 4, 2009 http://forbesindia.com/blog/business-strategy/journey-of-the-100-crorebollywood-film/
www.bollywoodhungama.com
www.boxofficeindia.com
www.hungama.com
www.ibnlive.com www.imdb.com
www.forbesindia.com/blog/business-strategies
